Police probe Katie Hopkins tweets

Police in Scotland are making inquiries following complaints over a Twitter outburst about Ebola from controversial TV personality Katie Hopkins.

Hopkins was berated online after she wrote on the site about ”little sweaty jocks”, adding: ”Sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn’t cricket.”

In a separate message, she tweeted: ”Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London’s Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?”

Police Scotland confirmed they are looking into complaints they have received but they did not reveal how many had been made.

Detective Inspector Glyn Roberts said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding remarks made on Twitter. Inquiries are ongoing into the nature of these tweets and to establish any potential criminality.

“Police Scotland will thoroughly investigate any reports of offensive or criminal behaviour online and anyone found to be responsible will be robustly dealt with.”

Hopkins’ comments came after it emerged that a nurse who volunteered to help in the fight against Ebola was diagnosed with the deadly virus on her return to Glasgow from Sierra Leone.

Pauline Cafferkey, a public health nurse at Blantyre Health Centre in South Lanarkshire, has been receiving specialist treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

Hopkins’ remarks provoked an online backlash from members of the public, as well as some well-known personalities.

A message posted yesterday on Police Scotland’s Twitter feed stated: “Please be aware that we will continue to monitor comments on social media & any offensive comments will be investigated.”

More than 11,000 people have now signed up to an online petition on the change.org website for Hopkins to be charged over the “racist tweets” regarding Scotland.